Wafer CD variation for random units of track and polarization

Guoxiang Ning; Paul Ackmann; Frank Richter; Karin Kurth; Stephanie Maelzer; Michael Hsieh; Frank Schurack; Fang Hong GN

doi:10.1117/12.917622

13 March 2012 Wafer CD variation for random units of track and polarization

Guoxiang Ning, Paul Ackmann, Frank Richter, Karin Kurth, Stephanie Maelzer, Michael Hsieh, Frank Schurack, Fang Hong GN

Proceedings Volume 8326, Optical Microlithography XXV; 83261N (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.917622
Event: SPIE Advanced Lithography, 2012, San Jose, California, United States

Abstract

After wafer processing in a scanner the process of record (POR) flows in a photo track are characterized by a random correlation between post exposure bake (PEB) and development (DEV) units of the photo track. The variation of the critical dimensions (CD) of the randomly correlated units used for PEB and DEV should be as small as possible - especially for technology nodes of 28nm and below. Even a point-to-point error of only 1nm could affect the final product yield results due to the relatively narrow process window of 28nm tech-node. The correlation between reticle measurements to target (MTT) and wafer MTT may in addition be influenced by the random correlation between units used for PEB and DEV. The polarization of the light source of the scanner is one of the key points for the wafer CD performance too - especially for the critical dimensions uniformity (CDU) performance. We have investigated two track flows, one with fixed and one with random unit correlation. The reticle used for the experiments is a 28nm active layer sample reticle. The POR track flow after wafer process in the scanner is characterized by a random correlation between PEB- and DEV-units. The set-up of the engineering (ENG) process flow is characterized by a fixed unit correlation between PEB- and development-units. The critical dimension trough pitch (CDTP) and linearity performance is demonstrated; also the line-end performance for two dimensional (2D) structures is shown. The sub-die of intra-field CDU for isolated and dense structures is discussed as well as the wafer intra-field CD performance. The correlation between reticle MTT and wafer intra-field MTT is demonstrated for track POR and ENG processes. For different polarization conditions of the scanner source, the comparison of CDU for isolated and dense features has been shown. The dependency of the wafer intra-field MTT with respect to different polarization settings of the light source is discussed. The correlation between reticle MTT and wafer intra-field MTT is shown for ENG process without polarization. The influence of different exposure conditions - with and without polarization of scanner laser source - on the average CD value for isolated and dense structures is demonstrated.

Citation Download Citation

Guoxiang Ning, Paul Ackmann, Frank Richter, Karin Kurth, Stephanie Maelzer, Michael Hsieh, Frank Schurack, and Fang Hong GN "Wafer CD variation for random units of track and polarization", Proc. SPIE 8326, Optical Microlithography XXV, 83261N (13 March 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.917622

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